Brandes Investment Partners LP Raises Holdings in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,880 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in NetEase were worth $2,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of NetEase in the fourth quarter worth about $164,307,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in NetEase by 226.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,896,495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,677,000 after buying an additional 1,315,410 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in NetEase in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $103,658,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in NetEase by 804.5% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 792,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,983,000 after acquiring an additional 704,753 shares during the period. Finally, Aspex Management HK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of NetEase during the fourth quarter worth $59,354,000. 11.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NTES shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on NetEase from $142.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of NetEase in a research note on Friday, July 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on NetEase from $126.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on NetEase from $104.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.67.

NetEase Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTES opened at $93.51 on Tuesday. NetEase, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.85 and a 52-week high of $118.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $85.40 and a 200-day moving average of $92.21. The company has a market capitalization of $60.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.54.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The technology company reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $10.43. The firm had revenue of $25.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.01 billion. NetEase had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 26.98%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that NetEase, Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetEase Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.435 per share. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. NetEase’s payout ratio is currently 26.82%.

NetEase Profile

NetEase, Inc engages in online games, music streaming, online intelligent learning services, and internet content services businesses in China and internationally . The company operates through Games and Related Value-Added Services, Youdao, Cloud Music, and Innovative Businesses and Others segments.